Bernier describes Christina of Sweden as a most enigmatic woman with an unquenchable curiosity, who collected Greek and Roman antiquities, paintings, drawings, rare books, and manuscripts. She also collected people: philosophers, scientists, poets, musicians, artists, and, not the least, cardinals. Bernier here also relates Catherine the Great's passion to make St. Petersburg the most brilliant capital in Europe. She built, she bought, she made love when and where she pleased, and she fostered music, painting, literature, the theater, and the decorative arts.

Every year, the renowned lectures given by Rosamond Bernier at the Metropolitan Museum of Art are sold out months in advance. Her lectures are really conversations, intimate chats about artists, their friends, their society, and their work. With this series of DVDs, your chair at home can become the seat you couldn't buy in New York, as you watch the actual performances filmed as they were given "Live at the Met." As cofounder of L'Oeil, the influential vanguard art magazine published in Paris, Bernier became friendly with Matisse, Picasso, Miró, Léger, Braque, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Duchamp, and many other modern masters. These lectures have a depth that only a firsthand acquaintance would allow.